Uncategorized —

KDE adds support for Mozilla

Users of Konqueror and other KHTML browsers on Linux will now be able to use …

The "Kecko Team" has announced a port of Gecko, Mozilla's rendering engine, to Qt and KDE, by bringing it in as a KPart. Done as part of the week-long aKademy Conference, the hackfest was completed in a mere four days. This will allow Konqueror users to use either the KHTML or Gecko renderering engine in their browser. A browser's engine is the main component that handles the rendering of a page itself. This allows for projects to use existing code and build different applications around it. KHTML developers are pleased with the port:

"This is the best of both worlds for KDE." said Lars Knoll of the KHTML project. "Integrating Gecko side by side with our existing renderer opens a lot of doors, without any compromise of the hard work and clean design that make KHTML what it is."

As a bonus, the Kecko Team has received the support of the Mozilla Foundation and will be able to contribute directly to the Mozilla project's codebase. A couple of interesting questions are raised by the new Gecko support in Konqueror. Is there enough room for two implementations? With full Gecko support in Konqueror, will KHTML development continue at its current pace?

Also, will this have any ramifications for Apple's KHTML-based web browser Safari? Apple chose KHTML over Gecko in no small part due to its "slim" profile versus the more hefty alternative. Given their heavy investment in Safari thus far (and the promise of Safari 2.0 in Tiger), there is little doubt that Apple will continue down the same path. Given the the portability of Gecko, it wouldn't be surprising to see a similar port to WebCore down the road.